Salut!

We went to this really chic restaurant for dinner. There was a live band playing a lot of classic Cape Verdean tunes. Our lone Cape Verdean quipped that the music was from his parent's generation. I loved it. Aside from food, music is one of my favorite introductions to other cultures.

Happy Holidays

How Not to Order Dinner in Another Language

I've never considered myself very adventurous. In fact, I actually think that I can be a stick in the mud at times. Like I've always been wary of traveling to far away places with hard to identify foods. Come on we all know I live to eat. Then there's also the language barrier. Oy ve. Can you imagine thinking you ordered chicken and they bring out a goat's head or cow liver? I say all this to say that is almost exactly what happened to us in the restaurant. The lone Cape Verdean in the group wasn't with us for lunch so we had to make do on our own. 

Take a look at the menu and see if you can figure out what's what.

This is before we took a look at the menu

Pretty Pretty Praia

Praia was so pretty and clean. It was also surprisingly quiet. Most of the folks that live in Praia made an exodus to their respective islands (Cape Verde has 10 islands, but only 7 are inhabited). 

Futbol stadium (CV was qualified for a huge game)

TAC who? TACV!

The flight was delayed, but after the wine I don't think I minded too much. We got real food (I was ravenous, sorry no pictures but it was like a beef stew with salad a roll and dessert) the first go round and then a sandwich the second time. I don't remember how long the flight was, I'm not sure if it's because I was sleeping off and on and every time I woke up we were still flying over one of the oceans or if it's because we switched timezones. Maybe a bit of both. Flying TACV (Cape Verde airline) was one of the most memorable flights of my life!! I always joke that all Cape Verdeans are related (they really are) but this flight just about proved me right. I've never seen such a boisterous flight before. So many people were up and mingling and going over to talk to other passengers. After a while I was a bit miffed. The young lady sitting next to me seemed to be pretty popular with the fellas. Every time I woke up, I found myself at eye level with some guy's crotch. Quite annoying. The flight attendants started chastising some passengers and asking them to return to their seats after a while. I wonder if it's normally like this, or if it was the excitement of the holidays that made everyone so merry.

Don't worry it's only apple juice.

Cheers to the Freaking Trip!!!

Bom dia!

That's Cape Verdean for hello/good day/good morning. Since I'm on my way to Cape Verde I might as well use some of the limited vocabulary. We're a group of 5. Prior to the trip I didn't know any of the other participants. After almost three decades of life on this sometimes lovely planet we call Earth, I have learned a thing or two about myself. One very relevant lesson, is that I don't do well under restriction or when forced to socialize with others. Yes, I know sound a little psychopathic. I love people, I love learning about everyone's story and what has shaped them to become who they are today; but I don't like having to be on. Clearly I've never done well in the diplomatic aspects of relationships, work and well life. Still a work in progress folks. Back to Cape Verde, we flew to Cape Verde, because it is a direct flight from Boston(who knew?!). We'll spend two days in Praia and then fly to Dakar, that is about an hour flight. The fact that there are that many Cape Verdeans in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to necessitate a direct flight from Logan Airport to Cape Verde is awesome, and it isn't Delta or American Airlines or that godawful clunker Spirit!! Errrmmm Haiti can we get on this ASAP?! Enjoy the airport pics below.

What better way to kill time than to imbibe in some adult grape juice?

I'm ready!!

Drinking alone is never fun.